Música Callada (Music of Silence) by Federico Mompou is one of the most beautiful and elusive works in the entire piano repertoire. This beautifully engineered disc must be its finest modern recording. It deserves a home in every serious piano music collection.

This exceptionally well-balanced, thoughtfully paced reading, vividly brought to life by the performers and recording team, deserves a place among the reference versions. A collector's dream, a listener's treasure. (3 CDs)

Aulis Sallinen (b. 1935) ranks next to Einojuhani Rautavaara as one of Finland's most important contemporary composers. His music is far from any dogmatism and in its sincere intensity appeals directly to the listener. (5 CDs)

Two haunting, rarely heard works by Frederick Delius for wordless chorus and orchestra: Appalachia, inspired by an old slave song Delius heard while working at a Florida orange grove, and The Song of the High Hills, inspired by a summer night in the Norwegian mountains.

It is a pleasure to recommend Herreweghe’s incisive, dynamic, imaginative, and flexible Beethoven. The glow of the woodwinds and the potent bass line at the beginning of Symphony No. 4 suggest something special. It’s a promise that holds good for the whole disc.

Gergiev and the LSO at their best: a sensual, supremely unhurried reading shimmering into focus over limpid pools of color. Magical harmonic and timbral shifts hang off a gently unfolding arabesque, leaving the listener weightless.

Wedding of Ravens in the Grove of the Crows, Black Swans and Bergensiana are among the intriguing titles in this new Chandos release of brilliantly scored music by the Norwegian late-romanticist Johan Halvorsen.

First time on CD! There are many reasons to recall On Your Toes with warm affection, paramount among them being the fine, rollickingly satirical score of Richard Rodgers and the incisive, enormously adroit and witty lyrics of Lorenz Hart. Arrives April 26.

Bruckner expert Marek Janowski brings forth the rich lyricism inherent in the 7th symphony with smooth brass and a deeply sonorous orchestra. Pentatone's sound is clear and solid with exceptional dynamic range and clean as a whistle.

This new release offers works by Ernst Toch that are immediately captivating in creativity and imagination. The music for "The Chinese Flute" is at once alluring and highly individual and the performances by the Mutare Ensemble offer superb musicianship. Hear sound samples via this link.

The Sibelius Second Symphony in an interpretation both poised and passionate, coupled with a notable Karelia Suite, at a very high level of ensemble precision, this is definitely one of the better Second Symphonies of recent days.

After winning the 2002 BBC Young Musician of the Year award, Jennifer Pike has performed at concerts in major venues all over the world including the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall and her 2005 debut in the Wigmore Hall, both to great critical acclaim.

An unparalleled collection of Gershwin's most popular pieces including Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris and Porgy and Bess, in acclaimed performances by top artists including Katia and Marielle Labčque, Barbara Hendricks, Arthur Fielder and Lorin Maazel.

Johann Rufinatscha was a music teacher, composer and friend of Brahms. For many years Rufinatscha's name was only found in the footnotes of history books. Now Chandos is revealing his colorful musical Romanticism.

Romantic songs you may not have heard! Wilhelm Kienzl was an active music director in Austria, The Netherlands, and Germany. Kienzl's lieder reveals his impeccable literary taste. The settings include classic poems by Goethe, Eichendorff, Heine, and Lenau.

Lavish and splendid productions of the fantastical operas by the leading French Baroque composer Jean-Philippe Rameau in a rare DVD release. Then as now French audiences love fantasy and novelty and this collection will not disappoint. Featuring Barbara Bonney and Paul Agnew with William Christie conducting.

On 6 CDs you'll want to hear again and again, the Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble explores the colorful variety of Telemann's innovative and diverse flute and recorder music. These works possess an immediacy that is second to none, showing the great range and variety represented in his works for the flute.

Jan Sandström (b. 1954) is among the most frequently performed Swedish composers on the international scene. On this album, trombone virtuoso Christian Lindberg conducts four works reflecting Sandström’s trajectory as composer, from Éra (1979-80) to Ocean Child (2004).

Collectors over the years have coveted Paul Kletzki's Beethoven symphonies, which generally combined the rhythmic incisiveness of Toscanini with Kletzki's own personal touches. But it was always difficult to find them all. Now Supraphon has issued this complete set in remastered digital stereo!

Supraphon pays triple homage to the violin artistry of Josef Suk and the compositional artistry of both his grandfather, (Joseph Suk the composer,) and great-grandfather, (Antonin Dvorak,) with this album of very appealing works.

With playing described as "pure magic", oboist Marc Schachman has given performances worldwide. This release features engaging and stimulating Baroque concertos played on the authentic Baroque oboe. Thomas Crawford conducts the American Classical Orchestra.

A great opportunity to discover Russian piano pieces you may have missed as well as rediscover familiar masterpieces. Distinguished pianist Vladimir Yurigin-Klevke offers a striking view of Russian piano music of the 20th Century.

First time on CD! Ida Haendel performs the colorful and exciting violin concertos of Khachaturian and Bartok in previously unreleased stereo recordings. Digitally remastered from the original tapes in the library of Stuttgart Radio.

Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow was considered the master of cantatas and for dramatic and melodic interest, the younger Handel learned much from Zachow's scores. Here are cantatas for Easter from both composers. Sound samples via this link!

Composed in 1745 for the funeral services of Charles VII, Telemann's solemn music also reflects the political tensions of the times through a higher dramatic level of harmonic dissonance and lyrical arias.

Isidora Žebeljan writes in an eclectic style. All of this music is striking. The collage-like, rapid material keeps the ear tantalized and the symphony achieves a more long-breathed lyricism that's often quite beautiful.

Solungga Fang-Tzu Liu performs haunting music by the American Impressionist, Charles Griffes. Of particular note are the Three Tone Pictures inspired by poets: The Lake at Evening, The Vale of Dreams and Night Winds as well as the exciting Pleasure-Dome of Kubla Khan.

The elegant and stylish world of the French Baroque. A recipient of important awards and prizes, harpsichordist Charlotte Mattax Moersch explores the rarely heard music of French Baroque composer Pierre Fevrier.

The young Polish pianist Lech Napierala performs popular Mazurkas by Chopin, rarely heard Mazurkas by Szymanowski and very rarely heard Mazurkas by Maciejewski, offering the listener a fascinating pianistic journey.

This release not only presents a refined performance of the Korngold's opulently scored and romantically expressive Symphony but also the world premiere recording of Tänzchen im alten Stil (Dance in the old style) written at age 17.

The Love for Three Oranges has a cast of top singers, characters who fly, jugglers, fire-eaters, elaborate costumes, amazing props and a huge set, looking more like Cirque de Soleil than an opera. A dazzling spectacle that even people who aren't interested in Prokofiev's opera would be drawn in.

A rare collection of music written for Debussy "in memoriam" by his contemporaries including Satie, Stravinsky, Bartok, Dukas, and Ravel plus Debussy's music, beautifully played on a 1915 Blüthner Grand Piano by Randall Love of Duke University.

Both Wagner and Liszt played on this rare Steinway built for Wagner himself and maintained to this very day in mint condition in Haus Wahnfried in Bayreuth. Tomas Dratva searched through original Franz Liszt sources to record this rare album on the actual Wagner Steinway in the Haus Wahnfried!

Pianist and musicologist Gregorio Nardi is a specialist in discovering unpublished and unknown compositions by past masters. On this new release, Gregorio Nardi explores rarely heard pieces and impressive concert paraphrases of Bach, Bellini and Schubert by Franz Liszt.

If you like Handel’s operas, and want to discover an unjustly forgotten composer, Cleofide by Johann Adolf Hasse is worth checking out. It is an entertaining opera - though long; just ignore the recitatives - Cleofide is full of delightful, happy music, performed by excellent musicians and soloists.

You can't go wrong with these 1993 stereo performances of Bach’s spectacular choral masterpiece, the Magnificat plus the four beautiful Missae breves, all in lively modern instrument performances conducted by the great Peter Schreier. Soloists include Barbara Bonney and Olaf Bär.